the year 1970...........the "chandubi mahal".............pacho the mahaldar from village borbakra, panchor the phandi, bangal the kamla...........lal bahadur was captured in the jungles of kulshi at the assam - meghlaya border by four of pacho mahajan's koonkies.......he was five then and named lal bahadur after the erstwhile prime minister lal bahadur shastri.......
pacho mahajan's mahal captured many elephants, he wouldnt retain them ofcourse, they would either be sold or gifted........lal bahadur caught the eye of suresh mahajan from nearby jarugaon.......he wanted lal bahadur at any cost, but lal bahadur was priced at Rs. 5000/-. Suresh mahajan was in a dilemma, five thousand rupees it was beyond his meagre means but lal bahadur must be his............
he sold his cows @ Rs. 70/- per pair and gathered seven hundred, another thousand was garnered by selling his paddy and the rest he thought he would borrow from friends...........a feast was organised........country chickens, boiled pork slices, rice with plenty of lau pani.......around 150 people would gather for this feast after all suresh mahajan was buying an elephant......it was a big day for jarugaon.......
finally as the day dawned into a muggy morning, suresh mahajan was frantic he could only manage to borrow another thousand bucks..........lal bahadur would never be his! and the feast......the smell of pork boiling was already in the air.........laughter and thrill filled up the open spaces at his courtyard.......he had to do something; suresh left for borbakra................... a heavy heart...............pacho's mother welcomed him and he knew he had to try this last time...........he narrated his dilemma to the old lady...............and the lady decided that lal bahadur would be handed over to suresh mahajan on credit.........a credit which he cleared over several years.........
the year 2011...........suresh mahajan's courtyard............lal bahadur stands tall over the banana grooves all of 46 years, a full grown tusker with tusks shorn short by the constant pulling of heavy logs of timber..........sugarcane sticks are offered which he chews slowly...........he looks tired or maybe he is tired.......he has probably forgotten the taste of sugarcane or maybe even to chew...........suresh mahajan is in the dumps, legal logging has been banned a long time and illegal logging is now showing no returns, all his elephants are jobless...........the makhana infact succumbed last saturday..............he has to save his tusker, his favorite lal bahadur............his wife weeps in the corner, lal bahadur is not getting enough food.............how long will he last?
pacho mahajan's mahal captured many elephants, he wouldnt retain them ofcourse, they would either be sold or gifted........lal bahadur caught the eye of suresh mahajan from nearby jarugaon.......he wanted lal bahadur at any cost, but lal bahadur was priced at Rs. 5000/-. Suresh mahajan was in a dilemma, five thousand rupees it was beyond his meagre means but lal bahadur must be his............
he sold his cows @ Rs. 70/- per pair and gathered seven hundred, another thousand was garnered by selling his paddy and the rest he thought he would borrow from friends...........a feast was organised........country chickens, boiled pork slices, rice with plenty of lau pani.......around 150 people would gather for this feast after all suresh mahajan was buying an elephant......it was a big day for jarugaon.......
finally as the day dawned into a muggy morning, suresh mahajan was frantic he could only manage to borrow another thousand bucks..........lal bahadur would never be his! and the feast......the smell of pork boiling was already in the air.........laughter and thrill filled up the open spaces at his courtyard.......he had to do something; suresh left for borbakra................... a heavy heart...............pacho's mother welcomed him and he knew he had to try this last time...........he narrated his dilemma to the old lady...............and the lady decided that lal bahadur would be handed over to suresh mahajan on credit.........a credit which he cleared over several years.........
the year 2011...........suresh mahajan's courtyard............lal bahadur stands tall over the banana grooves all of 46 years, a full grown tusker with tusks shorn short by the constant pulling of heavy logs of timber..........sugarcane sticks are offered which he chews slowly...........he looks tired or maybe he is tired.......he has probably forgotten the taste of sugarcane or maybe even to chew...........suresh mahajan is in the dumps, legal logging has been banned a long time and illegal logging is now showing no returns, all his elephants are jobless...........the makhana infact succumbed last saturday..............he has to save his tusker, his favorite lal bahadur............his wife weeps in the corner, lal bahadur is not getting enough food.............how long will he last?
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